Beggars in Spain is a novel by Nancy Kress. It was first written as a novella and won the Hugo and Nebula awards as such. The premise of the story is that there are genetically engineered people born that no longer sleep, called the Sleepless. The moral question that is the center of the novel is “What do we owe the unproductive masses (the beggars in Spain)”.

I talk about this book, not because I want to review a book (it is awesome, btw), but because the question was posed to me “Would you choose to never sleep and never be tired if it meant that you would never dream again?”. I thought about this a lot when I first read this book and my answer is a resounding YES! As much as I love my sleep, I would gladly give it up if I could never be tired. Dreaming is not something that I value very highly; most of my dreams that I remember are actually nightmares. I never feel like I have the time or energy to get everything done that I need to. I sound like a mom, right? Either way, it is true.

I am a huge fan of this book. The writing flows very naturally making it easy to read, and the characters have depth and emotions that are relate-able There is change and development is the characters as the book progresses, no one is stagnant in this novel, which is what truly makes this a great book in my mind. Buy it, read it, thank me later.

I am a biologist, wife and mother of two little minions. I like to read, play video games, take photos, drink wine, and write about all of my favorite things, including my children and the challenges of being a working mom. Welcome to my little corner of the internet!